And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

I debated as to whether or not I should write this particular post since I don't want to be just another purveyor of bombast rambling endlessly about pop culture.

But it relates indirectly to my previous post, Pop-Up Poignards, regarding the intrusion of advertising into every possible aspect of our lives.

One of the few (two, in fact) reality shows I watch is American Idol. It's a show as stuffed full of commercial breaks as any on television. Last night, the remaining eleven finalists had just one minute forty seconds each for their performances over the two hour live broadcast. That's under twenty minutes of singing talent in one hundred twenty, leaving plenty of time for banter among the host, the judges, and the contestants. The rest of the time is sold to the all-powerful advertisers.

Thanks to my TiVo, I can sit down at any time to watch a program and unceremoniously skip over every last commercial (except for the pop-ups). It's a beautiful thing. Well, it's evidently occurred to someone that there may be some DVR users in TV land that aren't getting the benefit of the regularly scheduled advertising. So after returning from a commercial break the host, Ryan Seacrest, addresses an audience member and asks to, "see that for a minute". The audience member hands him an Apple iPhone and Seacrest procedes to plug the iPhone in what can only be called a live, on-air, in-show commercial -- just like the old, old, old days.

As I watched, I found myself running out of breath -- because I had forgotten to breathe. There really is no escape, it seems. Seacrest MCs the show with his usual wit and aplomb, but I could have sworn that he looked uncomfortable -- probably wondering if this was buried in the fine print of his contract that he really should have read.